Actors - Raging Bull

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	Actors - Raging Bull

Raging Bull is a 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese, and written by Paul Schrader, and Mardik Martin. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a temperamental and paranoid but tenacious boxer who alienates himself from his friends and family. Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci (who earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor) as La Motta's brother and manager, Joey), and Cathy Moriarty as his abused wife. The film features strong supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto (who was eventually to play the character "Coach" on the TV sitcom Cheers), Theresa Saldana, and Scorsese regular Frank Adonis.

Overview

The film was distributed by United Artists; studio executives were initially reluctant to finance the project as they feared that the extreme profanity and violence in the screenplay would draw an "X" from the MPAA ratings board. However, Scorsese and De Niro reworked the script and were able to proceed. Because of his lifelong asthma, accompanied by depression (due to the critical and commercial failure of his big-budget musical New York, New York
) and a serious cocaine addiction that he had only recently overcome prior to making the film, Scorsese was convinced that he would never make another movie and, therefore, he put his heart and soul into making Raging Bull the best film he could.

Robert De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Actor, his first (and only, to date) for a leading role. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker, whose revolutionary style was far different from fight scenes in other boxing films, such as the Rocky
series. Raging Bull was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Director, and Best Picture.

In a memorable scene in the film, Jake La Motta quotes "I could've been a contender..." from On The Waterfront. Coincidentally, both Raging Bull and On The Waterfront received Academy Awards for Best Actor.

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It is 24th on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American movies.

Synopsis

The film begins with Jake LaMotta late in his life practicing his stand-up comic routine and then flashes back to his early boxing career.

LaMotta (DeNiro) is a strong, tenacious vicious fighter from the Bronx and his brother Joey (Pesci) is his manager. LaMotta slowly climbs the ladder to the top of the boxing world as he courts a relationship with Vicki (Moriarty) a girl he meets in his neighbourhood. After his first wife leaves he starts a relationship with her which eventually leads to marriage and children. However after his marriage, he becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessive about his wife and ultimately suspects her of infidelity.

Later, he believes that his brother has had a relationship with his wife behind his back and acting out on his explosive rage, he lashes out violently on his brother who leaves him. LaMotta finally loses his title to his arch-rival Sugar Ray Robinson and retires from boxing a few years later due to his weight problems and becomes a stand-up comedian and night club owner. However at this point, his wife finally arranges her affairs and divorces Jake, taking custody of his children while LaMotta ends up in prison for allowing minors to drink alcohol.

Later on, after being released from prison, Jake meets Joey and hugs him in apology. The film ends at the opening with Jake practicing his routine in front of the mirror beginning his path to redemption.

Production

Raging Bull was a project brought to Martin Scorsese by his friend and collaborator Robert DeNiro. DeNiro discovered the book upon which the film is based and wanted to play the title character. The initial screenplay adaptation was written by Scorsese's friend Mardik Martin, who had co-written Mean Streets
. It was reportedly a Rashomon-style drama with many different points of view being presented. In the end, this approach was abandoned in favor of a more straightforward narrative written by Paul Schrader, who had written Taxi Driver
. The final draft of the screenplay was written, uncredited, by DeNiro and Scorsese themselves.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Raging Bull ]

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Actors - Raging Bull

Overview

Synopsis

Production

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